The first assignment in sociology 101 is to pick a topic to write about from a list of topics out of all the topics what stood out for me was the word Deviance the word itself brought about a strong reaction within me and that is how I have come to chose Deviance as a topic.
DEVIANCE
AT FIRST GLANCE
What comes to mind when I first saw the word Deviance is the controversy with the Catholic Church. Too many priests are being accused of child molestation (which constitutes deviant behavior). One of many vows for a Catholic priest is one of celibacy. This seems to be violated across the entire Catholic diocese. Too many victims are coming forth as adults to unearth this awful and horrific behavior. Yet, many of the believers are blinded by their faith and do not question the cover -ups made by the Church to keep these scandals hush- hush. Where is the outrage?
I honestly believe that no Catholic wants to believe those they hold with such reverence who often demonstrates moral leadership throughout their parishes and communities are actually pedophiles. For a priest to violate any of his vows I would consider his actions deviant. This behavior corrodes the trust that once held a faith together. Today this behavior spreads like a cancer and perhaps will bring down the entire Catholic religion. It makes me question the vow of celibacy when it is obvious that not all can follow it.
Another theory that comes to my mind is perhaps within the Church there is another subculture that perpetuates the molestation of children. These priest may feel that it does not break their vow of celibacy. These are the people to whom I should confess my sins! I don’t think so. I don’t need a priest to be a middle man between me and God. The way it is today, it just scares me to think of my child alone in a confessional.
group or society (Wickman 1991:85)…pp, 108 Schaefer. My first reaction definitely was one of depravity and perversion. The lesson that I learned from this assignment is that there is another approach that one can take instead of reacting out of one’s emotions to do further research and not to be so quick to react base on how one feels.
S WOODFORD
Thank you for your blog on Catholic Church and Clergy Abuse and referring to What is Deviance, Schafer was an excellent resource. However your article left me with the need to research if this was a social behavior primarily of the 21st Century. A very Short History of Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church Rev. Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C. in Crusade Against Clergy Abuse Page 1 of 8, #3 says The earliest recorded church legislation is from council of Elvira(Spain 306 AD). Half of the canons passed dealt with sexual behavior of one kind or another and included penalties assessed for clerics who committed adultery or fornication. Though it did not make specific mention of homosexual activities by the clergy, this early Council reflected the church's official attitude toward same-sex relationships: men who had sex with young boys were deprived of communion even on their death bed. This appeared to be a "norm" as a punishment was in effect and a code of silence was in place. Unfortunately it appears that it took until the 21st Century for it to be viewed as criminal in nature and the victims to be heard
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